Pages

Monday, March 19, 2012

Almost a year ago I was contacted by a blog reader, Becky, looking for me to help her with her living room and attached dining area. So we partnered up and I did a couple of Style Tiles for the space!

To get started, she popped over her room photos:

She mentioned they recently finished their lower level, so their main level furniture was being moved down, giving her a blank slate.

When thinking up a solution, it was important to keep in mind that Becky is a busy mommy of four and she also runs a home school. Family friendly and cozy was the name of the game. She also shared with me a couple of inspiration photos that she liked, which had a consistent cottage/coastal feeling to them. Painting trim and cabinets white was out of scope for this project, so it was important for me to find ways to bring in that feeling with the existing finishes.

Here is what I came up with:

The walls would be painted a pretty blue with a gray undertone {Hirshfield's Millennium Line: Still Creek} and easy to clean white wood furniture would be brought in via a new TV stand, dining chairs and side table. I recommended a slipcover sofa for easy maintenance with kidlets and a pair of slipper chairs in front of the large living room window. The sea-grass ottoman would be a great place to pop up feet, or give a little ones a great place to make forts. And adding a gallery wall of photos in the dining area paired a pretty chandelier would pull it all together.

Becky and I have been working together both virtually and in person! That's right, she is located about an hour and a half away, so I have made a couple of trips with her to shop, plan and even install a gallery wall:

What you can't see in the photos is that the wrapping paper actually had a perfect grid on the back that helped us easily line up the frames and space them nice and evenly!

The space is now so cheerful and warm! It hugs you when you walk in and makes you feel comfortable to come in, curl up on the couch and make yourself at home! We are still looking for the perfect sofa pillows, but once those are in, we can scream, "Mission Accomplished!"

I was having so much fun spending time with Becky, you can imagine my excitement when she asked me to help her out with her daughter's room as well! Since I am a mommy to three busy boys, the thought of working on a girls room was a dream come true, so I snagged up the opportunity in a super speedy heartbeat!

This weekend the hubs and I did our "HGTV" style crash and makeover. We painted, crafted and installed all sorts of elements to create a super sweet haven for a super special little girl. Stay tuned, that story comes tomorrow!

Pssst... Right now I am not taking new Style Tile clients, however, it is a service I hope to be able to offer again soon. Stay tuned to the blog for announcements pertaining to my services and shop updates. Thanks friends!

Lovely. You and Becky had a wonderful team effort. My daughter has a photo grouping in her room. We used 3M Command photo mounts and a long metal 2" wide level which helped for perfect spacing between the frames. She has changed the photos a couple of times and everything lines up again beautifully. We <3 Command products!

I love it! Very open and inviting. I would even suggest she add some decorative pillows to the couch for an extra pop of color! (But I LOVE color, so that's just me) Great job, Jen...my favorite thing is the gallery wall :)

The wall color is divine :-) I love the way you were able to bring in both light and dark furniture and make it work and it looks amazing on the hardwood floors. I also am loving the camel covered chairs (so comfy) and ottoman! I can't wait to see what a mom of 3 boys does to a little girl's room... I'm sure it'll be amazing!

Wow what a beautiful space, I love the colors on the wall and the family pictures. I can't wait to see the next project too, I am also a mom of 3 boys so I totally understand the excitement when it comes to being able to decorate for a girl.

Ooooh...did you see the beautiful blue pillows that are on Target.com. One is a blue ikat and the other has a blue floral applique look! http://www.target.com/p/Target-Home-Floral-Applique-Decorative-Pillow/-/A-13773900http://www.target.com/p/Home-Multi-Home-Tribal-Ikat-Blue/-/A-13849937

Thanks for sharing this beautiful makeover! I love seeing a home with the oak trim. I have oak trim too and while I'd love white, I don't have the time to paint with 3 kids running around. It was encouraging for me to see that my home can still look nice even with the outdated trim!!! Thanks!

I used the paper to pick a pattern {spacing} and lined the frames up on the floor first, then, traced the frames. We used a level tape up the paper on the wall and nailed where we marked the paper. I hung the photos up just to check that it was all still going well and to illustrate the use of the grid. When it was all done, there were 8 nails in the wall through the paper. Then, we just pulled the paper down, the nails remained and we rehung the frames.

We were lucky that the photo frames fit inside the grid exactly. It was the best happy accident ever.

OK, I love the idea of using wrapping paper, but I can't for the life of me figure out what you mean by drawing the grid and then having the frames on top. Can you please explain it further? Thanks so much!

I used the paper to pick a pattern {spacing} and lined the frames up on the floor first, then, traced the frames. We used a level tape up the paper on the wall and nailed where we marked the paper. I hung the photos up just to check that it was all still going well and to illustrate the use of the grid. When it was all done, there were 8 nails in the wall through the paper. Then, we just pulled the paper down, the nails remained and we rehung the frames.

We were lucky that the photo frames fit inside the grid exactly. It was the best happy accident ever.

Thank you so much Jen! Your work is amazing. We're hoping to move soon and I can't wait to decorate a new house. Definitely gathering a ton of great organizing and decorating tips from you. Thanks for sharing!

She actually purchased a slip-covered sofa {it came that way} and I know you can find them at IKEA and JCPenney or most furniture stores. As far as single slipcovers, there is always surefit.com, but if you are looking for ones as shown here, it may be hard to find something that will fit your sofa specifically and still remain tailored. There are a lot of tutorials on the blogosphere on sewing slipcovers if you have that skill?

Kassie-if you live in metro PHX, fabric depot on cave creek has a number of seamstresses on the wall - we used one to do some new outdoor cushions and she was very good and not expensive. There are some great places to get upholstery at low prices around town too (boca bargoons comes to mind). Good luck!

would it be wrong that I am almost crying over here? We have that same sort of layout...I must do this! I must! Thank you thank you thank you for always being so inspiring. For daring to do it first, so that the rest of us can take the leap after you! You. are. amazing!

Sorry to bother you again Jen. Another question about the paint. Is that color close to the Behr's Prelude that you used in your playroom? I love the color but I am in Canada and we don't have Hirschfields here.

Hi Jen! The layout of the dining area and living room almost match mine. I have been having a hard time figuring out what to put up over my patio doors. I never thought of going white but it will be perfect. Where did you get the curtains from?

Good morning Jen! I have a (silly~duh) question :) Regarding hanging the pictures perfectly using wrapping paper...how did you go about marking where the nail should go? I think I am just missing something, but I can't figure it out!!! Thanks so much, loooooove your site and have a super day!!

Jen, this room is divine, really makes me wish I lived near you. Our rooms need desperate guidance too. Right now we are in a slightly cramped closed-off townhouse, and I am hoping to (in next 6 months - crosses fingers) move into a more open layout home, and try my hand at decorating as for now we've been living with hand me downs that I cant seem to make tie together.

IHeart you taking a moment to comment! Although I absolutely appreciate, consider and read each and every comment, I will remove any comment that I believe to be inappropriate, malicious or spam like. This blog is my happy place, let's keep the drama at bay!

Don't see your comment? All comments are moderated and may take a moment to appear.